On May 20, 2002 Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani said India would go ahead with a full scale war with Pakistan and “win the proxy war like we did in 1971”. Two days later, Prime Minister Vajpayee visited the front lines in Jammu delivering a chilling message to the troops that “the time has come for a decisive battle, and we will have a sure victory in this battle.”
The two armies had already lined up at the borders with finger on trigger; they could feel each other’s breath on their faces. That was the peak of the crisis triggered by a terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament building in Delhi in December 2001. India ordered a full scale mobilisation of its combat troops. 9/11 had happened just weeks ago, war was in the air.
India and Pakistan had never been this close to war since 1971, when they actually waged one. India had mobilised 500,000 troops, while Pakistan matched it by 300,000. Some say this was the biggest military mobilisation in the world after the WWII, barring the 1961 US-Cuba standoff.
India was then being ruled by its right-wing Bhartia Janta Party for the first time. The party had formed government for the first time, heading a fractious alliance after the February 1998 elections had thrown out a hung Parliament. The government collapsed in less than two years but BJP returned stronger in the next elections held in September-October 1999, extending its stint in power for over four years.
When BJP had taken over the government in India in March 1998, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan had already completed the first year of his second government. He had a whooping two-third majority in Parliament. His party had its own government in Punjab and coalition governments in the other three provinces.
The second BJP government took oath on October 13, 1999, just a day after General Pervez Musharraf overthrew the government of Nawaz Sharif. Since the Musharraf coup played late into the night of October 12 (he addressed the nation at 2:50 am on October 13), BJP’s second government and the General’s rule in Pakistan practically started the same day.
BJP’s time in office was eventful from the point of view of India-Pakistan
